Pokémon Go Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit counters and other Legendary Pokémon you can catch right now

Pokémon Go Legendary Pokémon had been hotly anticipated for some time, eventually arriving a full one year after the game released.

Fans of the classic games will remember them fondly - from the flying trio Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres to the elusive Mewtwo and Mew in Red, Blue and Yellow to Gen 2's Gold, Silver and Crystal, Legendary beasts Raikou, Entei, Suicune, and beyond.

Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit counters, other Legendary Pokémon currently available in Pokémon Go

Legendaries are primarily caught in Raid battles, and much challenging than standard encounters, so will require as many players as possible to take them down.

Living in major cities with gyms at popular landmarks will naturally attract players without organising before hand - just look out for the blue and white Egg, and get there for the countdown, and provided you are in a popular spot, other players should be there waiting for it to begin.

Pokémon Go Legendary trio Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit.

Otherwise, joining Facebook or Discord groups for your town or area is a popular way to organise groups. In battle, you essentially want to field powerful Pokémon with strong opposing Types.

You can also get Legendaries by completing a week's worth of Research quests. Like Legendaries in Raids, these rotate regularly, and focus on previously released Legendaries for those who missed them.

Finally, Gen 4's Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit buck the trend and appear in the wild around lakes and other water features as extremely rare wild spawns, as well as being in Legendary Raids.

Legendary Pokémon currently available in Pokémon Go

Legendary Pokémon

Type

Counters

Tips

Legendary Availability

Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit (Gen 4)

Psychic

Giratina, Mewtwo, Gengar, Houndoom

Dark, Ghost and Bug work well as Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit counters.

Only specific global regions until Monday, May 27th 9pm UK / 1pm PST in Level 5 Raids and as exceedingly rare wild spawns near lakes and other water features.

Previously available Legendary Pokémon

If interested, here are the Legendary Pokémon previously made available. Note that some are making a comeback as Research rewards, with the currently active one listed in the section above.

Legendary Pokémon

Type

Counters

Tips

Availibility

Articuno (Gen 1)

Ice, Flying

Omastar (Rock moves)GolemTyranitarFlareonArcanine

Prioritise Rock-type attacks to be double-effective. When catching, wait for it to drop to the lowest of its two heights, where it's in easier range, then use the attack-animation technique mentioned below.

Summer 2017

Moltres (Gen 1)

Fire, Flying

Omastar (Rock moves)GolemTyranitarVaporeonKabutops

About the same difficulty as a Tyranitar Raid, due to low defenses. Prioritise Rock-type attacks to be double-effective. When catching, it doesn't move between two heights like Articuno, but has a smaller circle, so focus on using the attack-animation technique mentioned below.

Summer 2017

Zapdos (Gen 1)

Electric, Flying

GolemPiloswine (double Ice moves)TyranitarDragoniteJynx

Weak against Ice and Rock, so once again Golem is great to bring with you. During the catch phase, Zapdos is closer but moves around a lot, but will return to the centre, which is the best time to throw - so hold steady and wait until then.

Summer 2017

Mewtwo (Gen 1)

Psychic

TyranitarMewtwoLugiaHoundoomGengar

Prioritise Dark attacks if you have them, as well as powerful Psychics.

Until Tuesday, October 23rd at 9pm UK / 1pm PST (Level 5 Raids)

Raikou (Gen 2)

Electric

Rhydon, Golem, Dophan

Weak against Ground, Grass creatures.

Autumn 2017

Entei (Gen 2)

Fire

Golem, Vaporeon, Omastar

Weak against Ground, Rock, Water creatures.

Autumn 2017

Suicune (Gen 2)

Ice

Zapdos, Venusaur, Jolteon

Weak against Electic, Grass creatures.

Autumn 2017

Lugia (Gen 2)

Psychic, Flying

ArticunoTyranitarGengarOmastarHoundoom

Prioritise Dark, Rock, Ice and Electric-type attacks, but beware its water-type Hydro Pump! The toughest to beat, but a large circle for catching and minimal movement. Use attack-animation technique mentioned below.

Summer 2017 April 2018

Ho-oh (Gen 2)

Fire, Flying

Golem, Raikou, Tyranitar, Vaporeon

Weak against Rock, Electric and Water.

Autumn 2017

Groudon (Gen 3)

Ground

Gyarados, Dragonite, Venusaur, Exeggutor

Weak against Ice, Grass, Water. Is very far away during capture, with rapid attacks, so straight throws might be easier.

2018, and January 2019

Kyogre (Gen 3)

Water

Jolteon, Raikou, Venusaur, Exeggutor

Weak against Electric, Grass. Like Groudon it is far away, and moves side-to-side regularly; as such, play without AR and throw only when it's about to return to the centre (the 'end' of it's movement) to increase your chances.

Prioritise Dragon, Ghost, Dark, Bug and Fairy attacks that are all super effective. Dragon-types have the best DPS, but will go down faster, too.

May 8th to June 5th in North America, South America and Africa

Latios (Gen 3)

Psychic, Dragon

RayquazaDragoniteSalamenceTyranitarGengarMewtwoLatios/Latias

Prioritise Dragon, Ghost, Dark, Bug and Fairy attacks that are all super effective. Dragon-types have the best DPS, but will go down faster, too.

May 8th to June 5th in Europe and Asia

Regice (Gen 3)

Ice

MoltresEnteiFlareonMachamp

Weak against Fire and Fighting

In Level 5 Raids until July 19th

Registeel (Gen 3)

Steel

MoltresEnteiFlareonRhydonDonphan

Weak against Fire, Fighting and Ground

In Level 5 Raids until August 16th

Regirock (Gen 3)

Rock

MachampKyogreGroudonGyaradosBreloom

Weak against Ground, Water, Fighting, Grass

In Level 5 Raids until September 20th

Giratina - Altered Forme (Gen 4)

Ghost / Dragon

RayquazaDragoniteLatiosSalamenceGengar

Prioritise double Dragon attacks if you have them, as well as powerful Ghosts like Gengar, which can be useful but is also very fragile against the wrong moves and won't last long. Alternatively use Ice-type attackers if you're struggling for options.

Until Tuesday, November 20th at 9pm UK / 1pm PST (Level 5 Raids)

Cresselia (Gen 4)

Psychic

Tyranitar, Gengar, Houndoom

Dark attacks are your best bet against the pure Psychic-type Cresselia. Ghost attacks are also particularly useful, so if you have a Mewtwo with Shadow Ball, then that'll also be worth using.

Until Tuesday, December 18th at 9pm UK / 1pm PST (Level 5 Raids)

Heatran (Gen 4)

Fire, Steel

Groudon, Rhyperior, Golem, Machamp, Kyogre

Ground types are the Heatran counter of choice thanks to its double weakness, but Fighting and Water are also effective too.

Until Tuesday, January 15th at 9pm UK / 1pm PST (Level 5 Raids)

Dialga (Gen 4)

Steel, Dragon

Machamp, Groudon, Breloom, Haryama, Lucario, Mamoswine

Another simple one: use Machamp in most weather conditions, and if it's sunny, use Groudon. The others are essentially filler from when you can't make a sqaud out of the other two!

Until Thursday, March 28th at 9pm UK / 1pm PST (Level 5 Raids)

Pokémon Go Legendary Lunch Hour time and details

In March, a new event was trialled in Pokémon Go - the Legendary Lunch hour. For one hour, there were increased Legendary Raids to complete, allowing you to schedule some dedicated battling time in the diary.

The next time Legendary Lunch Hour returned in April, it was at the following times:

The Legendary Lunch Hour date is Wednesday, April 10th.

The Legendary Lunch Hour time 12pm to 1pm local time - meaning no matter where you are in the world, it'll be for one hour starting at midday.

All Gyms with no active raids or scheduled EX Raids will have an Egg appear at 11:50am, which will all hatch into Giratina, and be available for an hour.

How to catch Legendaries and how to unlock Legendary Raids in Pokémon Go

Though they are similar to standard Raid Battles in many ways, there are several differences in both their appearance and capture:

Legendaries are only be available via Legendary Raids, the highest difficulty of Raid Battle - although they're now beginning to reappear as Research Breakthrough Rewards for completing Field Research Quests, too.

While regular Raids appear at random, Legendary Raids appear for set periods of time. For example, in Autumn 2017, the Legendary beasts Raikou, Entei and Suicune rotated between regions each month. Before that, Legendary Birds debuted for one week at a time over summer 2017. You can read the current active Legendaries later in the article.

EX Raid Battles see certain elusive Legendaries, such as Mewtwo, require an EX Raid Pass invite before you can participate. To get an invite, you must beat a Raid Boss at that Gym before the EX Raid appears, as well as several other requirements discussed in our Raids article.

Legendary Raid Pokémon have the highest CP of any Raid creature. For example, Articuno was at 37,603, Moltres at 41,953, Zapdos at 42,691, Lugia at 42,753 and MewTwo at a staggering 49,430.

Once the battle is over, the Legendary still must be captured like any other Raid, though the capture rate is lower.

Once you have captured the Legendary, you cannot use it to defend Gyms - but they can of course attack with them in subsequent Raids.

The Buddy Distance for Legendaries is 20km per one Candy - so we'd recommend using Rare Candy rewards from Raid battles as a way to easily power them up.

How to capture Legendary Pokémon

Like other Raid encounters, once a Legendary's defeated you have to then catch it. This is difficult seeing as, according to research available from Pokémon Go community The Silph Road, your chances are pretty slim.

The base catch rate for Legendary Pokémon, aside from Mewtwo, is currently 3% - meaning with no modifiers of any kind, throwing the ball straight, not using any berries and not even getting a "Nice" throw, you have a 1 in 33 chance of catching the Pokémon - not great odds.

There are several ways of increasing your chances - Golden Razz Berries and Curveballs (when you spin the PokéBall before releasing your throw) drastically increase your chances, whilst Nice, Great, and Excellent throws increase those chances further respectively, and there's also a small bonus for having a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Medal (see more in our guide to Pokémon Go Catch Bonuses).

A Golden Razz Berry, Curveball, and Excellent throw, with a Gold medal for that Legendary's Type, give you a 24% chance of catching the Legendary - meaning one in roughly four throws like this will catch it, which is much better considering the roughly 5-13 balls that will be available!

Mewtwo's base catch rate is currently a 6% chance - meaning it's considerably easier to catch than the other legendaries, and actually easier than some Tier 4 Raid bosses, too!

If that's not clear enough, here's a handy image, created by reddit user and Silph Road member Epimetheos:

Epimetheos' visual is an excellent way to represent your chances. Note that the X axis along the bottom, although unmarked, represents the different levels of throw you get - Normal, Nice, Great, Excellent - separated by each vertical line into sections.

With the above in mind, what can you do to increase your chances of catching Legendary Pokémon? It's recommended you:

Attempt Curved and Nice, Great or Excellent throws (landing the ball in the centre of the circle - the smaller the better)

Using a Golden Razz Berry between every catch attempt

Level up as many relevant Catch Bonus medals as possible to Gold by catching wild creatures of the same Type

As well as increasing the chances of individual throws, you want to have as many attempts as possible by earning more Premier Balls for the catch phase. One way is to target a Gym controlled by your team (which can be somewhat out of your control), and another is dealing a high amount of damage. It's worth noting your contribution is wiped out when your team faints, so you want to keep them alive for the entire fight, and one way of doing that is bring high defense tank creatures (Snorlax and Blissey) so you can absorb a lot of damage.

Finally, you want to land as many Premier Balls you can. Legendaries and other high level Raid creatures attack very regularly, and since they are immune during these attacks, you can waste a lot of opportunities simply trying to land a single ball. While these attacks are random, there is a way to avoid them; by observing these attacks, and throwing the ball before the animation ends, the ball will land in the vulnerable window between attacks. This Silph Road thread discusses the practice in detail, as well as the following video from Mesa:

The history of Legendaries in Pokémon Go

Before we even heard their presence was confirmed in the big Gym rework, we already knew the various Legendaries were in the game.

That's thanks to some good old-fashioned datamining. NesstendoYT on YouTube was one major player, who dug through the game's files to discover that the above first generation Legendary Pokémon are indeed listed in the game:

Their absence in the game led to plenty of speculation, particularly with one of the strongest and most famous Legendary Pokémon - Mewtwo - being the focus of one of the game's first trailers, showing crowds of people teaming up to fight it, whittling down its health as a timer ticks down before capturing the Pokémon in a packed Times Square, suggesting that Mewtwo and other Legendaries could be unlocked through public events rather than random encounters.

That's since been confirmed of course - but it's interesting Mewtwo pops up again at the end of the trailer... maybe that's the Legendary Raid that needs to be tackled in Chicago?

As for Gen 2's Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Lugia, Ho-oh and Celebi, they've appeared in datamining efforts, too, with their stats showing up alongside the likes of the birds, Mew and Mewtwo.

These stats reveal them to be among the best Pokémon in our Pokémon Go tier list, with Mewtwo and Ho-Oh having some of the highest base attacks in the game, more so than existing creatures Alakazam and Dragonite.

The datamine also revealed that these creatures have no capture rate at all, so perhaps that lends itself to the theory that Legendaries will automatically be caught after defeating them in a Legendary Raid?

We knew for some time that Legendaries were coming, but what's the story, and how did we get to this point?

When did we think Legendaries were coming? The Legendary teases:

In an interview with Wired Germany (via Den of Geek, Niantic CEO John Hanke said "with certainty that we will see [legendaries] more this year" - so that at least narrowed it down to 2017!

The biggest suggestion to date came from a five word acceptance speech from Niantic during the 21st Annual Webby Awards: "This summer will be legendary", a heavy hint we were set to see something soon:

Whether this was going to happen at the same time as the implementation of the new Raids feature or a little while after was unknown, although things certainly did at least appear to be tying together quite nicely at that point.

The first Legendary Pokémon spotted in Pokémon Go - but how did it appear?

Back in early August of 2016, before any of this official news was even close to being announced, a player topped a Gym in Ohio with an Articuno, which is said to be the first Legendary appearance in the game. Multiple players verified the sighting, but how the player got the creature is in question. Amazingly, the owner claimed she received the Pokémon as part of an apology from developer Niantic after contacting them via email about an issue.

Other possibilities could be an exploit that has edited the creature's data to appear in the game, an error that has seen one spawn accidentally, or a glitch turn another Pokemon into the famed Legendary, similar to a case reported by a user who had their wild Caterpie transform into a Charizard once in their possession.

What else we know about Legendary Pokémon in Pokémon Go

Finally, it's also worth pointing out - for history's sake, at the very least - that all this time there's been a hunt of Legendary Pokémon in plain sight, with users who have progressed to level 5 and interacted with a gym find themselves invited to one of three teams - Team Instinct, Team Mystic, or Team Valor - which are shown to be tied to Zapdos, Articuno and Moltres respectively. Could participating in teams play a part in how you unlock these particular Pokémon? It could still be the case that those Legendary Birds are tied to special Team-specific Raids at some point down the line.

The addition of Pokémon Go's Buddy system also paves the way for players to earn Candy and power up rare creatures without the need to catch any more - perfect for ultra rare Pokémon such as Legendaries. Meanwhile, the eventual arrival of Ditto - which was just as elusive as the Legendaries for sometime - is at least a sign that Niantic have been slowly working their way towards introducing all of the game's missing Pokémon.